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Shaun O'Dwyer

@shaunodwyer.bsky.social
141 followers 153 following 137 posts

Professor, Kyushu University Author, "Confucianism's Prospects" (SUNY 2019), Editor, "Handbook of Confucianism in Modern Japan" (AUP, 2022), editor "Confucianism at War, 1931-1945" (Routledge, 2024) hyoka.ofc.kyushu-u.ac.jp/html/10001…

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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 08/09/2026
Co-presenting with Junhyun Park on "The Apparatus of Wartime Dōtoku: The Dialectic of In and Yō in Takada Shinji’s Thought" at the European Network of Japanese Philosophy conference at Akita International University (I'm sitting in front of Park).
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Melissa Chan @melissakchan.bsky.social · 06/09/2026
So good to meet Cheng Lei for the first time, and I'm grateful for the thought-provoking conversation she led at the Australian Institute of International Affairs Victoria's event for our graphic novel, YOU MUST TAKE PART IN REVOLUTION. Thank you for the Melbourne welcome!
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 04/09/2026
Talking to a humanities doctoral student from a Tier 1 US university, and Heterodox Academy came up. I said I was a member and he said "great." He also said he can't join: such an association, if known, could harm his job application/TT prospects. 2nd time this week I heard something like this.
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 01/09/2026
From the conclusion of Jiang's "Why China Needs Democracy" (PrincetonU Press, 2026, p.180) press.princeton.edu/books/hardco...
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Unofficial Guardian (UK) Bot @guardian-uk-rss.bsky.social · 30/08/2026
Why is 'vegan' suddenly being used as a slur? | Emma Beddington
theguardian.com
Why is 'vegan' suddenly being used as a slur? | Emma Beddington
US republicans are tarnishing their plant-eating opponents at every opportunity. Yet vegans are perfectly suited to hold power – let me count the ways, writes Emma Beddington
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 27/08/2026
Joseph Yi on the negative effects for intellectual innovation when a society over-enforces conformity to narrow moral and nationalist values. The pile on against actress Ha Young over her great-grandfather's Japanese connections being a case in point. asiatimes.com/2026/08/s-ko...
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 22/08/2026
Looking forward to presenting at this symposium at Kyushu University, about themes of vegan/animal rights activist alienation and non-belonging in the novels of Isabel Colegate, J.M. Coetzee, and Han Kang - and the need for animal ethics to tackle those themes www.janlauwereyns.com/2026/08/poet...
janlauwereyns.com
Poetics as Bioethics
VA+M+P@IR*E presents... Poetics as Bioethics Symposium 16-18 September 2026 Venue: JK Choi Cultural Center, Ito Campus, Kyushu University T...
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Michael Turton @michaelturton.bsky.social · 16/08/2026
Eventually PRC archaeology is going to become completely twisted in the service of the state.
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 14/08/2026
One of those moments where I should have re-read the record before posting: as many pointed out, Nicholas and Erika Christakis resigned from admin positions at Silliman Dorm; only Erika resigned from teaching jobs at Yale. At MFA, the kimono try-ons were stopped, not the exhibition.
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 13/08/2026
And also moral panics over "cultural appropriation," coddled by academics, with non-trivial effects: Cancellation of a 2015 Japan-sponsored Boston MFA "try on a kimono" art exhibition; Nicholas and Erika Christakis's 2016 resignations from Yale following unhinged "Halloween costume" student protests
Japanese- and Korean-American counter-protesters confront "anti-racist" protesters against the Boston MFA Kimono Wednesdays exhibition in June 2015/Boston Globe
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 16/07/2026
"Cancelling" is a process as much as an outcome - in this case, social media posts/hate mail abusing, shaming, or threatening Tuvel, and colleagues writing an open letter attacking her academic integrity. She just didn't suffer the outcome: ostracism and retirement from academia. Hope this helps.
https://www.whatisitliketobeaphilosopher.com/#/rebecca-tuvel/
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Ryan Ho Kilpatrick 何松濤 @ryanhk.blue · 28/06/2026
The University of Hong Kong's student union newspaper Undergrad (學苑) announced today it is ceasing operations after 74 years in print. "Our historical role has come to an end," the editorial board wrote on social media.
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 17/06/2026
My article from last week's Japan Times, "How Students almost got protesting Sohei Kamiya right" explores tentative/pro tanto reasons for why it might be acceptable to platform controversial speakers at universities, even if they have a reputation for misinformation (article URL in ALT) 1/
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2026/06/07/japan/almost-protesting-sohei-kamiya-right/
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 16/06/2026
Some unfinished business for Taiwan's liberalization: protecting migrant workers from discrimination and union-busting
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 08/06/2026
“freedom of inquiry incorporates the pursuit of truth and scholarly forbearance toward rigorous and critical engagement with diverse ideas, including those we consider malevolent and untrue” From my Japan Times article “How students almost got protesting Sohei Kamiya right” (url in alt)
https://www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2026/06/07/japan/almost-protesting-sohei-kamiya-right/
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
Good article by Michael Breen suggesting the South Korea "Tank Day" Starbucks fiasco was less likely about kamikaze-level (ahem) scheming by far-right CEO's to "own the left," and more likely about institutional dumbness and over-reliance on AI-driven marketing www.koreatimes.co.kr/opinion/2026...
koreatimes.co.kr
Was the Starbucks Korea 'Tank Day' fiasco caused by AI? - The Korea Times
When Starbucks Korea launched its “Tank Day” coffee promotion on May 18 — the day South Koreans commemorate the 1980 massacre of protestors in Gwan...
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 06/06/2026
“I argue that constitutional democracy helps decentralize power, constrain the state, protect political freedoms, and promote genuine political competition. It offers the best available response to a defining normative crisis in contemporary China.” www.thewirechina.com/2026/05/31/y...
thewirechina.com
Yes China Can - The Wire China
A country as vast and populous as China cannot be ruled as a liberal constitutional democracy, argue Chinese Communist party and government officials — and many others — who personally benefit from th...
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MW Hyde @mwhyde.bsky.social · 05/06/2026
The core of Australian progressivism in the 21st century seems to be radical denial of universal solidarity, except performative anti-US loci (led by Palestine, but oddly, rarely the West Bank). The Australian border is a strange membrane. It allows migrants in, but won't let human solidarity out.
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Lenore Beadsman @lenorebeadsman.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
ricordiamo Tiananmen89 💔 @badiucao.bsky.social su Twitter
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 04/06/2026
Some news- the paperback edition of my edited book "Confucianism at War: 1931-1945" will soon be out at a less eye-watering price than the hardback, from Taylor & Francis www.routledge.com/Confucianism...
routledge.com
Confucianism at War: 1931–1945
This is the first book-length study of wartime Confucianism in any language, providing new insights into key developments in Confucian thought and ideology in East Asia in the 1930s and 1940s. In stan...
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 02/06/2026
I've studied war era "goyogakusha" and they're nothing like wonkish nat security scholars sitting in govt advisory panels today. An anti-intellectual self own for protesters to name and shame them like this. Smart JT article by Waka Ikeda. www.japantimes.co.jp/commentary/2...
japantimes.co.jp
Goyo gakusha: Welcome to Japan’s new cancel culture
Guilt by affiliation is not scholarship. It is the abandonment of scholarship.
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 02/05/2026
An update from the Japanese support group for Yuan Keqin, a former Hokkaido University of Education professor arrested on trumped up spying charges during a visit home to North China in 2019, and imprisoned in 2024. Relieved that he has been released, but it's unclear if he can return to Japan.
URL for Yuan Keqin's support group web page: https://drive.google.com/file/d/1_I5DrqylUfB1S-oSCPcP8yKKB-ll_eL9/view
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
Review of my edited book “Confucianism at War: 1931-1945” by Zhuoyao Li for “Dao” journal. One criticism is on point: I wish I had solicited more contributions about Japanese Sinologists and Confucians on gender, especially wrt China. They were quite neurotic about Chinese feminism.
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Wing Kuang @wingkuang.bsky.social · 30/04/2026
New: Australia’s Human Rights Commissioner calls for an inquiry into transnational repression, following Guardian’s report of a Chinese student allegedly being jailed for six years for joining protests in Sydney: www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
Student’s alleged jailing in China over Australian pro-democracy protests sparks calls for inquiry
Human rights commissioner says student’s jailing highlights the ‘growing risks of transnational repression’ in Australia
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Vatnik Soup @vatniksoup.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
Frame it.
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 28/04/2026
I wish the Japanese center-left could offer a version of the argument Takaichi is making - without the burden of historical revisionist statements that weigh on and her political allies’ credibility in their E Asia foreign policy. We live in hope I guess. www.bbc.com/news/article...
bbc.com
Japan loosens arms export rules in break from post-WW2 pacifism
This clears the way for Japan to sell weapons to more than a dozen countries.
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 27/04/2026
A dissembling AFR piece by James Curran that omits the elephant in the room in the current spate between Japan and the PRC: PM Takaichi's (reasonable) conviction that an invasion/naval blockade of Taiwan *could* also threaten Japan's sovereignty, thereby triggering its right of self-defense.
article URL: https://www.afr.com/policy/foreign-affairs/japan-s-hawkish-pm-could-drag-australia-into-conflict-with-china-20260426-p5zr3i
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MW Hyde @mwhyde.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Can you imagine the uproar among vice chancellors if Australian universities were required to warn Chinese students that they are in danger of being monitored and mistreated by Beijing, let alone required to provide them with support?
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 22/04/2026
Based on what I've learned from similar cases, this one is only known because the jailed student's family consented to make it known to foreign media. There are likely many other cases where families are too frightened to speak out. www.theguardian.com/australia-ne...
theguardian.com
Student allegedly jailed in China for six years after taking part in pro-democracy protests in Australia
Exclusive: The Australian government has been urged to take stronger action to protect overseas students from political repression
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 21/04/2026
Sad to see a representative of an organization which promotes and funds Japan Studies research express partisan-brained, paranoid opinions about viewpoint diversity. As an East Asian studies researcher involved in a Heterodox group she has denounced, I think I should voice my dissent here /1
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 14/04/2026
Something to look forward to, coming out with Princeton University Press this June: "Why China needs Democracy"
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 12/04/2026
Heterodox East Asia webinar last week hosted by Joseph Yi at Hanyang University, ft me, Kevin Yam (Senior Fellow at GeorgetownU Center for Asian Law), and moderator Frances An, discussing academic freedom in Hong Kong/among Chinese abroad. www.youtube.com/watch?app=de...
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 08/04/2026
Cheng quoted Sun's 1924 Kobe Pan-Asianism speech invoking the "Eastern" Confucian Kingly Way against the Hegemonic Way of the "West" ... and missed the irony in addressing this to a militarizing China which, like Imperial Japan, might just cloak its own hegemonic ambitions in Pan-Asianist verbiage.
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 29/03/2026
Review of my edited book “Confucianism at War: 1931-1945” by Zhuoyao Li for “Dao” journal. One criticism is on point: I wish I had solicited more contributions about Japanese Sinologists and Confucians on gender, especially wrt China. They were quite neurotic about Chinese feminism.
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 24/03/2026
Presenting a paper on the early 20th century Japanese Sinologist and their conceptions of China, at the School of Social Sciences at Nanyang Technological University. And what a gorgeous campus it is.
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 12/03/2026
Not a fan of codifying in-conference conduct down to the last detail like this - nor of bureaucratizing its enforcement. I wonder if this could chill what might otherwise be robust but collegial conversation/disagreement. But if everyone's on board about it... www.asianstudies.org/conference/c...
asianstudies.org
AAS Conference Code Of Conduct - Association for Asian Studies
AAS Code of Conduct Ensuring a safe and respectful meeting space has always been a top priority for AAS, and all attendees are expected to follow AAS policies as agreed in your conference registration...
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
15 years ago today- an apocalyptic photograph of the destruction of Minamisanriku town’s Disaster Prevention Center (with only its aerial visible) and hospital by a 15 meter tsunami. Over 100 people in these 2 buildings died. I took the other photograph of the ruined center in 2012.
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 10/03/2026
A grandiloquent celebration of the Franco-German Compiègne Forest Armistice in June 1940, written by a now obscure but then prominent Japanese philosopher Takada Shinji/高田真治, in the leading sinology journal Shibun, of which he was editor. Not often you see a Confucian philosopher praising Hitler.
translation of the underlined passage: "Hitler, having chosen this forest (for the signing of the armistice) is truly the greatest poet of the century."
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George Takei @georgetakei.bsky.social · 02/03/2026
Beat 'em to the punch.
comicsands.com
Illinois Democrat Running For U.S. Congress Goes Viral With Genius Attack Ad—On Herself
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 26/02/2026
Lankov is a highly respected scholar of North Korea. I'd like to see some detailed explanation from the Latvian side about why they've blacklisted him. www.koreatimes.co.kr/foreignaffai...
koreatimes.co.kr
Korean studies professor Andrei Lankov detained in Latvia: report - The Korea Times
Andrei Lankov, a professor specializing in Korean studies and teaching at a South Korean university, has been detained by police in Latvia, where h...
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 17/02/2026
AOC was asked a complex geopolitical question that she just wasn't prepped to answer on. I hope she does better next time. With enough foresight and conviction, the US left can articulate a progressive civic and cultural diplomacy that helps legitimate Taiwan's place in the world.
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
Oh, I do believe there are racists in the LDP - it's vast and has factions across the spectrum - but it also has a stake in what W F Buckley would've called "keeping out the kooks." Even Taro Aso was doing that recently, defending Eri Arfiya against loony accusations that she is "pro-China."
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 13/02/2026
My and Joseph Yi’s article for @thehill.com on the pragmatic, incrementalist immigration policy of Japan’s LDP government, which draws a line against anti-foreigner bigotry and paranoia. What’s left of sane conservatism in the US and South Korea can take note. thehill.com/opinion/immi...
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Brian Hioe @brianhioe.bsky.social · 10/02/2026
This is rather concerning that this took place during Chinese drills www.taipeitimes.com/News/taiwan/...
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Shaun O'Dwyer @shaunodwyer.bsky.social · 09/02/2026
In hindsight, the opposition party representatives who denounced PM Takaichi's November 7 remarks on a "Taiwan Contingency" and demanded their retraction badly misjudged Japanese public sentiment. Their demands were also broadcast by CCP propaganda. english.news.cn/asiapacific/...
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Sense Hofstede @sensehofstede.nl · 27/01/2026
Opposition blocks special defence budget review for the 10th time–TaipeiTimes: ‘Yesterday, sources told the Liberty Times on condition of anonymity that CCP authorities believe that the KMT has fallen short in some areas and needs to demonstrate “substantive action” before the forum can take place.’
taipeitimes.com
Opposition blocks review for the 10th time - Taipei Times
Bringing Taiwan to the World and the World to Taiwan
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Badiucao巴丢草 @badiucao.bsky.social · 25/01/2026
1. Woke up early again to my feed flooded with videos of murders by America's ICE. It seems the U.S. justice system has completely granted impunity to ICE's atrocities—the federal government endorses it right away, and victims are smeared as domestic terrorists and assassins.
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Phillips OBrien @phillipspobrien.bsky.social · 20/01/2026
Trump sent out a batsh!t crazy letter yesterday and people once again fell for it. The real story is not the letter, its just another tactic to get what he wants. It shows how he despises Europe and is helping Putin. Yet people comfort themselves by mocking him. open.substack.com/pub/phillips...
open.substack.com
People Are Still Not Getting Trump Right
His Letter Was Not And Is Not The Story
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Roy Ngerng 鄞義林 @royngerng.bsky.social · 13/12/2025
I spoke to TaiwanPlus about why Taiwan's income inequality is high, its impact on society & politics & the need to raise minimum wage faster—because of the risk that disenfranchisement among a segment of voters can lead to distrust with government & weaken Taiwan's defense. youtu.be/zadDKg2KUlY?...
youtu.be
Analysis: Taiwan’s Top 10% Earn Nearly 50% of Income, Hold 60% of Wealth|TaiwanPlus News
YouTube video by TaiwanPlus News
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Mark Harrison @mhar4.bsky.social · 08/12/2025
As Beijing continues military threats and political warfare against Taiwan, PRC Ambassador Xiao Qian warns Australia about "appeasement" of Japan, following PM Takaichi's comments that a PRC war against the Taiwanese would threaten Japan's security.
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